How To Finally Grab That Dream Holiday This Year While Remaining Productive

If you work for yourself or have been at the helm of a business for a significant period of time, the thought of being able to take a holiday might be laughable. You’ve not had a proper one for years, so how on earth can you fit one in this year?

The good news is that you absolutely can. The bad news is that it’ll likely require a significant shift in mindset if it’s to do the intended job and not result in a faltering business. In the main, that means coming to terms with the fact that you simply can’t do everything.

Holidays are vital. Without them, you’ll simply reach burnout and do serious damage to both your health and the business itself.

I learned this lesson the hard way, but have never looked back since making the time every year to have a proper holiday.

You may just want to slip away for a few days or finally take a dream trip to a far-flung land, but whatever it is, I’ve compiled four tips that will help you do just that while remaining productive and avoiding inflicting any undue harm on your business.

1. Choose the location wisely

By this, I don’t mean base the location of your holiday on being able to get work done, more pick one that will deliver the rest you deserve. Thankfully, if you’re UK-based, you could do a lot worse than take a staycation, but if you fancy heading overseas, go for the place you’ve always wanted to visit and which is a million miles (figuratively) from work.

2. Accept you’ll have to work the week of your life on the lead up

There’s no two ways about it, on the lead up to your holiday, you’ll need to call on every productivity habit you’ve acquired in order to work the week of your life.

If you work alone, the onus will be on you to get things to a point where you can virtually ‘pause’ the business and head off. If you have staff, you’ll spend the time doing as much as you can while strategically delegating everything else.

It’ll be hard, but worth it. Take a deep breath.

3. Consider outsourcing

Letting go of the reins is difficult when you run your own business, but it may be sensible to check out the many outsourcing options that are now available if you want a stress-free holiday.

The ‘gig economy’ has spawned a vast number of independent workers who can take on tasks for you, no matter how menial. Check sites like TaskRabbit to find people who can ensure the business carries ticking over while you’re on holiday.

4. Decide carefully if you can work on holiday

This one’s tricky, because the whole point of taking a holiday is to get away from work. However, if you’re completely on your own and outsourcing isn’t an option, you may be left with no choice.

For example, there are one or two tasks I simply can’t leave to others while away, but they’re small enough not to cause concern on holiday. They’re also not time-bound, so I can do them as and when suits and never take up any more than fifteen minutes of each day.

Be careful about the work you take with you, and if you have to, keep it to an absolute minimum.

Wrapping up
If you were expecting more tips for successful, stress-free holidays that won’t mean the end for your business, you’ll hopefully be pleasantly surprised. It’s actually pretty straightforward.

By using my guidance above, you’ll return refreshed and to a business that can be instantly ‘un-paused’ and taken to even greater heights.

 

Written by Mark Ellis

Mark Ellis is a freelance writer who specialises in copywriting, blogging and content marketing for businesses of all sizes. Mark’s considerable experience at director level and deep interest in personal and business success means he’s ready to comment on anything from freelance writing to workplace dynamics, technology and personal improvement.